A context menu is a graphical user interface (GUI) that appears when you right click or press and hold on an item (ex: desktop, file, folder, drive, etc...) in Windows. A context menu can have menu items and sub-menus with a list of options or actions available for the item you right clicked on.

When you install 3rd party apps, some may include their own shell extensions that add items to the right click context menu.

If an app's added shell extension isn't working properly, it can cause a context menu to be extremely slow or freeze when you right click to open the context menu.

This tutorial will show you how to troubleshoot and fix slow or freezing right click context menu caused by shell extensions in Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to perform the steps in this tutorial.

Here's How:

1 Download ShellExView from NirSoft.

2 Right click or press and hold on the download ZIP file (ex: "shexview-x64.zip), and click/tap on Extract All. (see screenshot below)

3 Run the shexview.exe file. (see screenshot below)

4 If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes to approve. (see screenshot below)

5 In ShellExView, click/tap on Options on the menu bar, and click/tap on Hide All Microsoft Extensions to check it. (see screenshots below)

We want to check Hide All Microsoft Extensions since the issue would only be caused by shell extensions added by 3rd party apps, and not shell extensions added by Windows.

6 Look for Context Menu items listed in the Type column in ShellExView. These will be the 3rd party shell extensions that one or more could be causing the slow or freezing context menu issue. (see screenshot below)

7 Right click on a listed Context Menu extension name you think may be the cause, and click/tap on Disable Selected Items. (see screenshot below)

8 Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)

9 Restart the explorer process to apply. (see screenshot below)

10 Open the context menu that is slow or freezing to test if the context menu is now fixed or not.

11 If the context menu is not fixed, then repeat steps 7 to 10 above to disable another Context Menu extension name until the context menu is fixed.

12 Once you find the culprit Context Menu extension name, select all disabled Context Menu extension names that are not the cause, and click/tap on Enable Selected Items. (see screenshot below)

You can press and hold the Ctrl while you click/tap on Context Menu extension names to select more than one, and release the Ctrl when finished selecting items.

13 Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)

14 Restart the explorer process to apply. (see screenshot below)

15 Verify the context menu is still fixed.

16 When finished, you can close ShellExView.


That's it,
Shawn Brink

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